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Zhang W, Li N, Jiang L, Ren Y, Yao Q-J, Lin Z-H, et al. Dependence of noise temperature of quasi-optical superconducting hot-electron bolometer mixers on bath temperature and optical-axis displacement. In: Zhang C, Zhang X-C, editors. Proc. SPIE. Vol 6840. Spie; 2008. 684007 (1 to 8).
Abstract: It is known that the increase of bath temperature results in the decrease of critical current of superconducting hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers owing to the depression of superconductivity, thus leading to the degradation of the mixer’s sensitivity. Here we report our study on the effect of bath temperature on the heterodyne mixing performance of quasi-optical superconducting NbN HEB mixers incorporated with a two-arm log-spiral antenna. The correlation between the bath temperature, critical current, LO power requirement and noise temperature is investigated at 0.5 THz. Furthermore, the heterodyne mixing performance of quasi-optical superconducting NbN HEB mixers is examined while there is an optical-axis displacement between the center of the extended hemispherical silicon lens and the superconducting NbN HEB device, which is placed on the back of the lens. Detailed experimental results and analysis are presented.
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Jiang L, Antipov SV, Voronov BM, Gol'tsman GN, Zhang W, Li N, et al. Characterization of the performance of a quasi-optical NbN superconducting HEB mixer. IEEE Trans Appl Supercond. 2007;17(2):395–8.
Abstract: In this paper we focus mainly on the investigation of the performance of a quasi-optical (planar log-spiral antenna) phonon-cooled NbN superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer, which is cryogenically cooled by a close-cycled 4-K cryocooler, at 500 and 850 GHz frequency bands. The mixer's noise performance, stability of IF output power, and local oscillator (LO) power requirement are characterized for three NbN superconducting HEB devices of different sizes. The transmission characteristics of Mylar and Zitex films with incidence waves of an elliptical polarization are also examined by measuring the mixer's noise temperature. The lowest receiver noise temperatures (with no corrections) of 750 and 1100 K are measured at 500 and 850 GHz, respectively. Experimental results also demonstrate that the bigger the HEB device is, the higher the stability of IF output power becomes.
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Zhang W, Miao W, Zhong JQ, Shi SC, Hayton DJ, Vercruyssen N, et al. Temperature dependence of the receiver noise temperature and IF bandwidth of superconducting hot electron bolometer mixers. Supercond Sci Technol. 2014;27(8):085013 (1 to 5).
Abstract: In this paper we study the temperature dependence of the receiver noise temperature and IF noise bandwidth of superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixers. Three superconducting NbN HEB devices of different transition temperatures (Tc) are measured at 0.85 THz and 1.4 THz at different bath temperatures (Tbath) between 4 K and 9 K. Measurement results demonstrate that the receiver noise temperature of superconducting NbN HEB devices is nearly constant for Tbath/Tc, less than 0.8, which is consistent with the simulation based on a distributed hot-spot model. In addition, the IF noise bandwidth appears independent of Tbath/Tc, indicating the dominance of phonon cooling in the investigated HEB devices.
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Zhang W, Miao W, Yao QJ, Lin ZH, Shi SC, Gao JR, et al. Spectral response and noise temperature of a 2.5 THz spiral antenna coupled NbN HEB mixer. Phys Procedia. 2012;36:334–7.
Abstract: We report on a 2.5 THz spiral antenna coupled NbN hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixers, fabricated with in-situ process. The receiver noise temperature with lowest value of 1180 K is in good agreement with calculated quantum efficiency factor as a function of bias voltage. In addition, the measured spectral response of the spiral antenna coupled NbN HEB mixer shows broad frequency coverage of 0.8-3 THz, and corrected response for optical losses, FTS, and coupling efficiency between antenna and bolometer falls with frequency due to diffraction-limited beam of lens/antenna combination.
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Zhang W, Jiang L, Lin ZH, Yao QJ, Li J, Shi SC, et al. Development of a quasi-optical NbN superconducting HEB mixer. In: Proc. 16th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol.; 2005. p. 209–13.
Abstract: In this paper, we report the performance of a quasi-optical NbN superconducting HEB (hot electron bolometer) mixer measured at 500 and 850GHz. The quasi-optical NbN superconducting HEB mixer is cryogenically cooled by a 4-K close-cycled refrigerator. Measured receiver noise temperature at 850 and 500GHz are 3000K and 2500K respectively with wire grid as beamsplitter, while the lowest receiver noise temperature is found to be approximately 1200K with Mylar film. The theoretical receiver noise temperature (taking into account the elliptical polarization of log-spiral antenna) is consistent with measured one. The receiver noise temperature and conversion gain with 15-μm Mylar film as the beamsplitter at 500GHz are thoroughly investigated for different LO pumping levels and dc biases. The stability of the mixer’s IF output power is also demonstrated.
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Maslennikov SN, Finkel MI, Antipov SV, Polyakov SL, Zhang W, Ozhegov R, et al. Spiral antenna coupled and directly coupled NbN HEB mixers in the frequency range from 1 to 70 THz. In: Proc. 17th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. Paris, France; 2006. p. 177–9.
Abstract: We investigate both antenna coupled and directly coupled HEB mixers at several LO frequencies within the range of 2.5 THz to 70 THz. H20 (2.5+10.7 THz), and CO2 (30 THz) gas discharge lasers are used as the local oscillators. The noise temperature of antenna coupled mixers is measured at LO frequencies of 2.5 THz, 3.8 THz, and 30 THz. The results for both antenna coupled and directly coupled mixer types are compared. The devices with in—plane dimensions of 5x5 ,um 2 are pumped by LO radiation at 10.7 THz. The directly coupled HEB demonstrates nearly flat dependence of responsivity on frequency in the range of 25+64 THz.
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